We explored the potential relationship between optic disc haemorrhage, venous pulsation pressure (VPP), ocular perfusion pressure and visual field change in glaucoma. Higher VPP is associated with disc haemorrhage but the effect size is small.

Can Home Monitoring Allow Earlier Detection of Rapid Visual Field Progression in Glaucoma?

Anderson AJ, Bedggood PA, George Kong YX, Martin KR, Vingrys AJ.

Ophthalmology. 2017 124(12):1735-1742.

We use computer simulations to show that increasing test frequency via home-monitoring helps detect rapid visual field progression in glaucoma sooner, despite assuming imperfect compliance and that home-monitoring tests are noisier than conventional perimetry.

Orientation of the Temporal Nerve Fiber Raphe in Healthy and in Glaucomatous Eyes.

Bedggood P, Nguyen B, Lakkis G, Turpin A, McKendrick AM.

Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017; 58(10):4211-4217.

We report marked population variability in retinal nerve fibre trajectories. This has potential importance for glaucoma assessment, where sensitivity could be improved by alignment of visual field and OCT data

Impact of supervised student optometry consultations on the patient experience.

Bentley SA, Trevaskis JE, Woods CA, Guest D, Watt KG.

Clin Exp Optom. 2017 Nov 13.

ACO patients view student involvement in their care as a highly positive and important experience. Concerns about patient satisfaction are unwarranted and should not prevent students being involved in patient care.

This is a protocol for the first systematic review to consider the level of methodological rigour applied when using laser scanning in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) for clinical research.

Blue-light filtering ophthalmic lenses: to prescribe, or not to prescribe?

Downie LE.

Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2017 Nov;37(6):640-643.

This editorial discusses the importance that claims and clinical recommendations relating to the prescription of blue-light filtering ophthalmic lenses remain consistent with the current, best-available research evidence.

Tear film evaluation and management in soft contact lens wear: a systematic approach.

Downie LE, Craig JP.

Clin Exp Optom. 2017; 100(5):438-458.

This review summarises knowledge relating to the effects of soft contact lenses on the tears and ocular surface, and provides a systematic approach to diagnosing and managing tear film anomalies.

Long-term sensorimotor adaptation in the ocular following system of primates.

Hietanen MA, Price NSC, Cloherty SL, Hadjidimitrakis K, Ibbotson MR.

PLoS One. 2017 Dec 4;12(12):e0189030.

When catching a ball, the eyes first saccade towards the ball, then an automatic eye tracking mechanism takes over. We show that repeated training leads to improved eye tracking, even though it was previously thought to be an entirely reflexive behaviour.

To consider whether imaging retinal vasculature may be used as a marker for cortical vessels, we compared fluorescein angiography flow dynamics before and after pharmacologi-cal disruption of blood-neural barriers, and showed that disruption may be detected earlier in the eye.

Methods for In Vivo CRISPR/Cas Editing of the Adult Murine Retina.

Hung SS, Li F, Wang JH, King AE, Bui BV, Liu GS, Hewitt AW.

Methods Mol Biol. 2018;1715:113-133.

Whilst CRISPR/Cas-based technology has been used to modify genes in mammalian cells in vitro, delivery into mammalian tissue and/or organs is more difficult. We outline a method to edit the genome in mouse retina using a using a dual adeno-associated virus vector-mediated CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Neural basis of forward flight control and landing in honeybees.

Ibbotson MR, Hung YS, Meffin H, Boeddeker N, Srinivasan MV.

Sci Rep. 2017 Nov 6;7(1):14591.

Bees use the speed at which images move across their eyes to control safe landing.

The effect of blue-light blocking spectacle lenses on visual performance, macular health and the sleep-wake cycle: a systematic review of the literature.

Lawrenson JG, Hull CC, Downie LE.

Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2017 Nov;37(6):644-654.

This systematic review finds a current lack of high quality evidence to support using blue-blocking spectacle lenses for the general population to improve visual performance or sleep quality, alleviate eye fatigue or conserve macular health.

Mismatched summation mechanisms in older adults for the perception of small moving stimuli.

Previous studies have found evidence for reduced cortical inhibition in aging visual cortex. Here we investigate how such changes may influence the motion perception in older observers.

Daily vision testing can expose the prodromal phase of migraine.

McKendrick AM, Chan YM, Vingrys AJ, Turpin A, Badcock DR.

Cephalalgia. 2017 Jan 1:333102417741130. [Epub ahead of print]

Using home vision-testing methods used daily, we show that testing the perceptual surround suppression of contrast fluctuates during the migraine cycle, supporting the utility of this measure as an indirect, non-invasive assay of the balance between cortical inhibition and excitation.

We find that acute caffeine ingestion alters the perceived contrast of targets presented against a non-uniform background, suggesting that acetylcholine, a brain neuromodulatory chemical, is involved in perceptual surround suppression.

Occipital GABA levels in older adults and their relationship to visual perceptual suppression.

Studies have attributed certain visual perceptual alterations in older adults to a likely decrease in GABA (Gamma Aminobutyric Acid) in visual cortex. We found performance on two visual tasks hypothesised to be related to GABAergic inhibition were not correlated with GABA concentrations measured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, however.